Croatia centre-back could be fined by Saints after appearing to try to force
through Anfield £20 million switch by claiming his "head is at
Liverpool"

Dejan Lovren has been ordered to return to Southampton on Sunday by new manager Ronald Koeman.

Southampton turned down a £20 million bid for Lovren from Liverpool, who have already signed Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert for a combined £29 million from the south coast club.

Lovren hit out at Southampton, insisting the club had broken a promises and claiming his "head is at Liverpool". He could still face a club fine.

Speaking publicly for the first time since taking over as Southampton manager, Koeman revealed he has spoken to Lovren twice on the telephone and wants to see him back.

But Lovren has given no guarantees he will return and Koeman admits the Croatia central defender could still move to Liverpool, who are flush with money after agreeing a £75 million deal to sell Luis Suárez to Barcelona.

“I spoke two times to Dejan,” said Koeman. “He was very clear. I said I want to keep him in the team. I respect his wishes, but we have to do what the best is for the club.

“He has a contract, he has to come back this Sunday, but I don’t know what will happen after this.

“I hope Dejan will come back. He has to come back on Sunday. He said it’s a difficult situation and he will have another talk to the club and his agent, but he knows he has to come back because he is still a player of Southampton.

“I know Liverpool have got a lot of money now after the Suárez transfer, and normally they will spend that money, and they will buy some players, and maybe they will buy one player of Southampton.

“OK, that’s a normal question. But as a manager of Southampton, I have to do everything to keep the best players. The final decision is of the board of the club.

“You like to have all the players happy, happy to be at Southampton. If there is a different opinion, we will speak about that and make a decision.”

Asked whether Lovren will be fined for criticising Southampton, Koeman added: “First of all we like to keep all that information in the club, not the press. That was not a good thing on his side. We will speak about that [a fine].”

Koeman had been told that Lallana, Lambert and Luke Shaw, who joined Manchester United for £27 million, would be sold during the first meeting he had with executive director Les Reed over the Southampton job.

Other than hoping that Lovren returns, Koeman is aiming to keep Tottenham and Arsenal target Morgan Schneiderlin and Jay Rodriguez, who is recovering from injury but has interested Spurs.

Koeman also expects to complete the £6.5 million signing of striker Graziano Pelle from his old club Feyenoord, having already taken midfielder Dusan Tadic from FC Twente for £10.3 million.

“The first meeting with Les Reed was open and clear,” said Koeman. “The information was clear about the squad. I knew Lambert, Lallana, Shaw, after that we said OK we are not a selling club. We like to keep the rest of the good players and bring new players in.

“We don’t have any bid for Schneiderlin. I spoke to him last week and he will come back in two weeks. He is a player of Southampton and he will be a player of Southampton.

“Jay Rodriguez is working very hard to come back. He is still needs more time, but he will come back and might be the best transfer of the winter break for us.

“I don’t talk about money, we are looking at the positions in the squad and we are happy with Tadic. With Pelle, we are near to having another one in the team. It’s close, not signed, but coming close. We hope this weekend to have him as the second signing.

“Tadic can be the new Lallana. He scores and makes assists, he is a great player. He is very similar in the qualities of Lallana.”